Distribution of Room Size in Hospitals: Fid-Bau Portal

Distribution of Room Size in Hospitals

J. Weeks / G. Best / J. Cheyne / E. Leopold

Room sizes in six teaching hospitals in the United Kingdom were analyzed to determine the extent to which each hospital's physical accommodations were unique to its particular functions and to examine the assertion that the provision of a generalized and highly useful stock of rooms leads to larger and wasteful buildings. The six hospitals were distinct in design and ranged in size from 116,000 square feet to 850,000 square feet. Room size distributions were plotted in histogram form, in 5-square-foot intervals. Data were then analyzed in terms of common room sizes. The six most common room sizes ranged from 40 square feet to 120 square feet and accounted for over half of the rooms in the study hospitals. The findings tended to support the contention that hospital planning may be susceptible to at least a certain extent of variety reduction and naturalization. To test the validity of dimensional coordination in simplifying the planning, design, and building process and in facilitating the standardization of building components, room size data were used to determine if two typical planning modules would result in an increase in the size of the six hospitals if they were replanned according to the modules. It was found that strict adherence to either module, with no reduction in specified room areas, would result in an average increase in total building area of between 6 percent and 12 percent. With a 10-percent tolerance on room areas, however, it was determined that the use of such modules would not lead to an increase in total hospital size. Graphs and tables illustrate the study.